November Reflections

28 October 2016

Every year we listen with tight throats to Kraków’s musicians playing ”When The Saints Go Marching In” during the All Souls “Zaduszki” Jazz Festival for all those who are no longer with us. This time we are thinking of Andrzej Wajda – one of the greatest Polish artists who worked on the global stage, directing numerous acclaimed films and theatre performances and originating exhibitions and festivals, as well as leaving indelible traces on Kraków’s landscape. The Manggha Museum was founded thanks to Andrzej Wajda and Krystyna Zachwatowicz, initiating the redevelopment of Kraków’s right bank. He also proposed the construction of the Wyspiański Pavilion at Wszystkich Świętych Square, replacing the former ruins that marred the site.

Recalling the Maestro (whose films will be shown during the November review at Pod Baranami Cinema), you’d be forgiven for thinking that he’s still with us today. After all, our city was an important element in many of his films, from “The Wedding” to “Katyń”. And let’s not forget that during the Andrzej Wajda Year, in 1996, the Kraków 2000 European City of Culture Festival featured a reconstruction of Wacław Szymanowski’s famous sculpture “Procession of Kings to Wawel Castle” as a paratheatrical pageant. It was a truly Wajdaesque allegory of the history of Poland, inseparably intertwined with Kraków. Now we can see the Maestro himself as a part of this picture.